Sports and Pastimes of
ScotlandChapter VIII. The Revels of Fastren's E'En

First comes Candlemas,And then the new moon,And
the first Tuesday after thatIs Fastren's E'en.

Old Rhyme.

The British carnival in days of yore was called
Fastren's E'en, or Fasten's E'en, in Scotland, and Shrove-tide, or Shrove
Tuesday, in England: its particular day being regulated by that on which
Easter might fall, according to the rule that Shrove-tide must be the
seventh Tuesday before Easter. From what derivation the name Fastren's E'en
proceeded is doubtful: it may have meant the day before, or eve of the Fast
of Lent, or again, the Feast of the martyr-brothers, SS. Faustinius and
Jovita, of Brescia, who suffered for the faith by being beheaded in their
native city, circa 121, under the Roman Emperor Adrian. But it signifies
little what was the exact origin of the Scottish designation of Shrove-tide
we know that in the centuries before the Reformation, Fastren's E'en was a
holiday of roystering revelry and disport, as the people having shriven or
confessed themselves and obtained absolution for their sins, plunged into
excess of good cheer and frolic during the few hours which intervened ere
the morrow, Ash Wednesday, ushered in the period of abstinence and
austerity.

Although certainly not inducing in any degree the
riotous merriment and pastime of the day, yet there was ever something in
the natural season itself tending to inspire lightness and gaiety of heart
at Fastren's E'en. For then the reign of surly \Vinter" is over : and though
the gloomy king, mantled with mist and cloud, and wearing his icicled
diadem, still lingers on the northern mountain tops, whence in oft-recurring
gusts of rage he casts forth his tempests, yet in his lost domains young
Spring has assumed the supremacy, and is breathing life into the clods of
the valley, and calling to resurrection the bright and beautiful floral
children of the Earth. Already the Fair Maid of February, Emblem of Purity,
the Snowdrop, smiles in her simple charms on the bleak waste. Now awakes an
eager chorus from the leafless groves: the buds are red on the hedges: and
winged atoms are dancing in the genial air of noon, when the West wind comes
across the naked leas with a sough of summer. And hearken to the voices of
the waters I Freed of their fetters, which broke and dissolved away at
Spring's magic touch, the rivers, swelling from bank to brae, roll along in
their majesty, with a tumultuous exultant roar like drunken laughter,
tossing on their bosoms the wrecks of flooded haughs. Every woodland brook
is full to the brim, and the hill-burns brawl down furiously to the plains.
Diffused abroad seems a deep sense of relief—of emancipation. Storms may
burst; the gathered clouds may pour their deluges; and the snow-drift may
darken the day but a rejuvenating spirit is at work, and will quickly
restore universal Nature to her pristine freshness and loveliness. Foliage
will clothe the naked boughs, and rustle joyously in the breezes ; the woods
will ring with melody; the flowers will bespangle the meads. Yet all will
not be restored. There are vanished treasures of the past which not even the
power of Spring can bring back to gladden the heart, and which live only in
fond remembrance and unavailing regret.

Nought of the pure influences of the season could have
moved the feelings which found delight in the coarse festivity, the
barbarous sports, and the Bacchanalian madness of Fastren's E'en. "The
common people," says Sir Walter Scott, describing, in the Fair il/aid of
Perth, the festival as it was held in Perth, when Robert III. was King,
"had, throughout the day, toiled and struggled at football ; the nobles and
gentry had fought cocks, and hearkened to the wanton music of the minstrel;
while the citizens had gorged themselves upon pancakes fried in lard, and
brose, or brewis—the fat broth, that is, in which salted beef had been
boiled, poured upon highly-toasted oatmeal, a dish which even now is not
ungrateful to simple, old-fashioned Scottish palates. These were all
exercises and festive dishes proper to the holiday. It was no less a
solemnity of the evening, that the devout Catholic should drink as much good
ale and wine as he had means to procure; and, if young and able, that he
should dance at the ring, or figure among the morrice-dancers, who in the
city of Perth, as elsewhere, wore a peculiarly fantastic garb, and
distinguished themselves by their address and activity." At the Court of
James IV. the festival was celebrated with Guizing (masking),
Morris-dancing, and Tourneying, as abundantly shewn by the Lord high
Treasurer's Accounts.

When the Reformation triumphed in Scotland this holiday,
was, of course, abolished along with the other festivals of the Romish
Church. But in some of its fashions and pastimes, Fastren's E'en lived on,
notwithstanding the ban of the Kirk. Among the characteristic sports of
Shrove-tide, both in England and Scotland, cock-fighting was in high esteem;
and it seems to have been anciently common in English schools. The writer,
Fitz-stephen, who died in u91, speaking of the amusements of London, says
that "yearly at Shrove-tide the boys of every school bring fighting-cocks to
their masters, and all the forenoon is spent at school to see these cocks
fight together." Doubtless the like practice obtained in Scottish schools
long before the Reformation, and probably was kept up here and there till
the era of the Covenant, when it must have been totally suppressed ; for at
the Restoration it was ostentatiously "revived," to the great satisfaction
of the Cavaliers. Referring to the Fastren's E'en of 1661, the Afercurius
Cilcdonius of Edinburgh records that "our carnival sports are in some
measure revived, for, according to the ancient custom, the work was carried
on by cock-fighting in the schools, and in the streets, among the vulgar
sort, tilting at cocks with fagot-sticks." It may be presumed that the
example spread over the country. At the beginning of the eighteenth century
the science of cock-fighting was popular among certain classes of the
citizens of Edinburgh. In 1702 a cockpit was opened at Leith Links, the
prices of admission being 10d. to the front row, 7d. to the second row, and
4d. to the third; and speedily, says Arnot, in his History of Edinburgh,
"the passion for cock-fighting was so general among all ranks of the people,
that the magistrates" of the city "discharged its being practised on the
streets, on account of the disturbances it occasioned." In 1705 Mr. William
Macbrie, residing in Edinburgh, who had been teaching "the severe and
serious, but necessary exercise of the sword,' turned his attention to the
despicable sport then come into favour, and which he called "as much an art
as the managing of horses for races or for the held of battle," and
published an Essay on the subject. Ile extolled the cruel diversion to the
skies, and earnestly wished that "village may be engaged against village,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom, nay, the father against the son,
until all the wars in Europe, wherein so much Christian blood is spilt, be
turned into the innocent pastime" of which he was treating. Edinburgh
continued to patronise the sport for some time ; but at length the taste
turned, and before the middle of the century, cockfighting had died out as
one of the public amusements of the capital. After a lapse of years,
however, it came again into repute, though happily not for any lengthened
period. The following notes occur in the "Comparative View of Edinburgh in
1763, 1783, and 1793," drawn up by Provost Creech, and inserted in his
Fugitive Pieces:

In 1763—There was no such diversion as public
cock-fighting in Edinburgh.ln 1783—There were many public cock-fighting
matches or mains, as they are technically termed; and a regular cockpit was
built for the accommodation of this school of gambling and cruelty, where
every distinction uf rank and character is levelled.In 1790—The cockpit
continued to he frequented.

But, strangest of all, throughout the eighteenth
century, from its opening to its close, the savage diversion was in full
swing, as an established institution, in most of the schools in Scotland.
Whenever Fastren's E'en came round, the schools were transformed into
cockpits, and in various cases the sport was also indulged in at Candlemas.
The boys brought the combatants, and the whole day was devoted to the sport.
The masters profited by it. Dues of 2d. or so were paid them for each bird
introduced and besides, the killed birds, and also the fugies, namely, those
who proved craven, became their perquisites Sometimes the boys were treated
to drink at the close of the proceedings ! Indeed, in poor parishes, these
dues and perquisites were accounted as part of the stated salary of the
teacher. Thus, the Rev. John M'Queen, minister of Applecross, Ross-shire,
says, in his Statistical Account of that parish, published in 1792, that
"the schoolmaster's salary is 200 marks Scotch; he hath no perquisites, but
the quarter payments of 1s. 6d. for English scholars, and 2s. 6d. for Latin
and arithmetic; and the cock-fight dues, which are equal to one quarter's
payment for each scholar." Sir James Macintosh, when at Fortrose School in
1776-77, had this entry in his bill "To cock-fight dues for 2 years, 2s. 6d.
each, 5s." And such rude diversions did not altogether cease at the end Of
last century, but were practised in different districts for years
afterwards. The editions of Hayle's Games of the period included a "Treatise
on Game Cocks," with rules and calculations for the fight.

Football and other ball games were prominent amongst the
popular amusements of Fastren's E'en. An annual ball-match, on that
festival, was held at Scone, between the married men and the bachelors,
which gave rise to the old saying—"A's fair at the ba' o' Scone." It is said
that this contest had its origin in the chivalric ages.

"An Italian," as the story goes, in the Statistical
Account of that parish, 1796, "came into this part of the country,
challenging all the parishes, under a certain penalty in case of declining
his challenge." Every one of the parishes "declined the challenge excepting
Scone, which beat the foreigner; and in commemoration of this gallant action
the game was instituted," to be played yearly on Shrove Tuesday. The
competitors ranged their sides at the old market cross of the village. "A
ball was then thrown up, and they played from two o'clock to sunset. The
game was this. He who at any time got the ball into his hands, ran with it
till overtaken by one of the opposite party, and then, if he could shake
himself loose from those on the opposite side who seized him, lie ran on :
if not, he threw the ball from him, unless it was wrested from him by the
other party ; but no person was allowed to kick it. The object of the
married men was to hang it, i.e., to put it three times into a small hole in
the moor, the dool or limit on the one hand; that of the bachelors was to
drown it, i.e., to dip it three times into a deep place in the river, the
limit on the other. The party who could effect either of these objects won
the game. But if neither party won, the ball was cut into two equal parts at
sunset." It is added that "whilst the custom continued, every man in the
parish, the gentry not excepted, was obliged to turn out and support the
side to which he belonged ; and the person who neglected to do his part on
that occasion was fined; but the custom being attended with certain
inconveniencies, was abolished a few years" previous to 1796. The Fastren's
E'en football match at Fisherrow, in the Lothian parish of Inveresk, was
between the married and unmarried fish-women, and it is recorded that " the
former were always victorious." A rural poet, David Anderson, the Apprentice
Coppersmith, who published his Scottish Village at Aberdeen, in 1808, has a
sketch of how the holiday was spent among the country-folks on the banks of
the Don :-

The twilight now close on the back of noon Comes
jovial in, attended by the moonThen forth the Gamesters' equal parties
draw, To worst each other, driving balls of straw,

Then to the field, the ball with fury spurns, All
crowding strive, the battle warmly hums On either side, the eager
contest's fir'd,And each to win the glorious game's inspir'd.Now
scattering whiles, they rage, and run, and push, Now in a group, fast
madd'ning on they rush, While down the field one party victors go,
Now driven back by some unlucky blow, Calm whiles it sinks, but loud
again begins,Now warms their blood, then spurns each other's shins.
Till equal games upon each other get, Then to some dance off cheerfully
they set.

On the Border, ball-play on Fastren's E'en has been an
old custom. At Hawick, as related in Robert Wilson's JJisto;y of that burgh,
"a football was played annually on Fastren's Eve within the town," up to
about the year 1769, "the inhabitants who lived on the West Side of the
water of Slitrig being matched against those who resided on the East Side of
it. This amusement had a bad tendency in keeping up, and promoting, a
species of war or fighting that had been carried on, time out of mind,
between the people (principally boys) of East and West divisions of the
town. This feud, in which the boys below sixteen years of age were the chief
combatants, was fostered by their seniors and even parents and masters have
been known to encourage their apprentices and children to join in the scene
of contention. The youngsters of that period, too, formed themselves into
regiments had drums, standards, and halberds, and were armed also with
stones, clubs, and even swords. These battles were sometimes carried to such
a height, that adults were induced to mingle in them. This warlike
propensity was fiercest for two or three weeks before and after the playing
of the ball on Fastren's-eve."

At Jedburgh and Dunse the yearly ball-play has been kept
up to our own times. At Jedburgh the game was originally football, and was
pursued along the streets of the town, until the Town Council formally
prohibited the sport by the following Minute, dated i ith March, 1704:

The Council, having duly considered that the tossing and
throwing of the football at Fastringe's Evin, within the streets of the
burgh, has many times tended to the great prejudice of the inhabitants (who
now all call for a discharge thereof), there having been sometimes both old
and young near lost their lives thereby: therefore they, with all unanimous
advice and consent, discharge the same now and in all time coming, as also
the ringing of the watch-bell at that time, with certification of one
hundred pounds Scots to all contraveners, besides what are contained in the
Acts of Parliament of King James the Sixth and his successors relating
thereto, and discharging the same.

After this prohibition, the hand-ball was substituted,
and the new play took the place of the old.

But "Dunse dings a'! " In the case of this burgh we have
a graphic account of its ball-game in the Transactions of the Berwickshire
Naturalists' Club, and thence transferred to the pages of the Scottish
Journal of Topography, Antiquities, Traditions, etc., for 22nd January 1848,
from which we now extract it in extenso:

THE GAME OF BALL, AS PLAYED AT DUNCE ON FASTERN'S EVE.
By Mr. Thomas Brown.

As one object of this Club is to examine the antiquities
of l3erwickshirc, a brief notice of the above game may not be unacceptable.
Though still kept up, the interest taken in it has greatly decreased, and it
may not improbably disappear ere long. It is not so much, therefore, from
its present state that a complete description is to be drawn, as from the
recollections of the oldest inhabitants. I have only to regret that the
details here presented are not more complete.

Fasterns Eve, or, as it is here called, Fastern's E'en,
was once almost, if not altogether, a holiday to the inhabitants of Dunse.
As in many other parishes, cock-fighting was the principal amusement during
the forenoon, and, at one period, it seems to have been in high estimation.
The parish school, which was set apart for it, is described as having been
sometimes crowded to the door, and the fees collected on the occasion formed
a perc1uisitc of some value. It is certainly to the honour of the present
generation that this practice has disappeared.

The amusements of the afternoon are both more peculiar
and inviting. The game is ball, played in a manner which, if not peculiar to
Dunse, is at least not common. Preparations for it used to begin nearly a
week before. Three young men were chosen to conduct them, and were called "ba'-nien."
They met on the Wednesday of the preceding week, to hold, along with their
friends, the shaping of the ball, when they paraded the town, accompanied by
a drum and fiddle, playing the tune:

Never let the grace go doon,For the gude o' our toon.

In this style they called at the houses of the more
respectable inhabitants, danced with the servants, and received
contributions.

Till the day itself arrived, their only duties were to
collect these contributions and prepare the balls. Three are required for
the game, but four are always prepared. The family at Dense Castle have so
liberally supported the practice that it has been customary to leave there
one of the balls, which, it is said, are preserved. Of those played with the
first is gilt, and called the ''olden ball " the second, from its colour, is
called the 'silver ball ' the third is spotted.

About eleven o'clock in the forenoon the honour of
throwing oil the ball was at one time exposed to auction in the churchyard
over one of the tombstones. The arrangement of the working classes in Dunse,
tinder the different trades, was at that time more complete than at present
and it was it subject of considerable competition among them who should have
the honour of throwing up the ball. My informant states it, as a very early
recollection, that the whip-men (carters) bought it for fifteen shillings—a
suns which, making allowance for the difference of the value of money, shews
the estimation in which it was held. The children of the Drummelzie family,
or of the more respectable families in Dense itself, have of late enjoyed
the honour, but it has not unfrequently been left to the ball-men
themselves.

It was from the top of a small building that stood close
to the old Town-house that the bail was usually thrown. Since that was taken
down, it is simply from the street. About one o'clock the shops are shut,
the golden hail is thrown off, and the game begins. -

The opposing parties are the married and unmarried men.
Their object is not to kick the ball, but to snatch it up and carry it off.
This, however, is exceedingly difficult. It is thrown into the middle of the
crowd, and whoever happens to gain it, is sure that hundreds will rush on
him from every point. The scenes to which this leads are, as may be
supposed, exceedingly varied and amusing. Al one time the crowd is rolled
together in a mass, every individual in which is making the greatest
exertions to gain or retain the ball. And should the possessor of it be able
to escape or to throw it to any distance, the rush which is made, and the
eager pursuit, exhibit a very animated sight. The game of the married men is
to carry the ball into the church, the doors of which are set open on the
occasion. The unmarried men endeavour to reach any null in the parish, and
put the hall into the hopper.

The Contests, though conducted in good humour, are
usually very determined, and when the game was in higher estimation than at
present, it is said that accidents sometimes happened front the pressure of
the crowd.

Though the unmarried men might carry the ball to any
distance in the parish, they generally endeavour to reach Clock-mill, about
half-a-mile to the west of Dunse. It was once customary, therefore, for a
party of their opponents to be stationed before it, and many a hard contest
took place there. The parties, however, scarcely met on equal terms. The
young men, spent with previous exertion, were no match for these fresh
opponents, and it not unfrequently entimt in their being plunged in in the
mill-lade. If, however, in spite of all opposition, the mill-hopper was
fairly reached, the game was won. And then cane the honours. The miller
entertained them with pork and dzemplins and, what was of far more
importance, dusted them, especially their hats, with flour. Like the laurel
wreaths of other regions, this marked them out for the gaze of their fellow
-townsmen.

In this way the three balls are played for successively.
The person who succeeds in kirking or in milling—such are the phrases—the
first or golden ball, receives front the ball-men a reward of 1/6, for the
second 1/-, and for the third 6d.

I have no means of ascertaining the antiquity of this
practice. The oldest inhabitant tells its that, ever since they recollect,
it has been falling off. It scents, indeed, at one time to have been engaged
in with much greater spirit. Whoever did not play was marked, and the
inhabitants not unusually assembled next day to inflict punishment. They
dragged him forth—carried hint down to the Cross, and, as is said, knocked
him against it. When one thinks of the population, leaving for one day their
laborious occupations, and entering with spirit into the excitement of this
game, he would be a stern moralist who would forbid them the enjoyment. But
every picture has its darker shades. The evening was generally spent in
(lancing and drinking. It was remarked, too, that if any private quarrels
had arisen, they were one way or other settled and set at rest on Fastern's
E'en.

We see that this play closely resembled the "B )a' o'
Scone," and has survived it to the present day.

The fashion in which the time-honoured festival was
celebrated in Kilmarnock, has been delineated by a poetical son of "auld
Killie," John Ramsay, in his Woodnotes of a Wanderer (1848). Holiday was
held in the town. The performances began with the "water-warks," or fire
engine, being brought into the streets and set to play at random.

Jock Stewart took a pipe's comman',Though for his
neck 'twas risky,And dealt it roust' wi heavy han'-Yore sure it
wasna whisky.For, had it been, he wad, I ween,Ta'en rather better
care o'tNor by his drouth, to ony mouthHae had ae chap to spare o't-
On that same day.

Out owre the heighest house's tap He sent the
torrents scrievin'; The curious crowd aye nearer crap To see sic
feats achievin'.But scarcely had they thickened wed, And got in trim
for sinilin',When round the pipe gaed like an eel, And made a pretty
skailin''Mang theist that day.

Now here, now there, he took his mark—Now down, now
up, he liftit And droukit some unto the sark That hadna -me to shift
it.And aye the callants were as keenTo stan' and get a blatter,
As they had Roman Catholics been, And it a' holy waterThat fell that
day.

When the populace had sufficiently enjoyed these
ablutions, they matched in procession, headed by the Town Councillors, with
halberdier and drummer, to the outskirts of the burgh, where foot-races were
run for suitable prizes. Such was "auld Killie's" Fastren's E'en in the
early years of this century. During last century, the members of the Weaver
Incorporation of Perth (a very numerous body) kept Fastren's E'en by
partahing of cogs of fat brose in the morning, and assembling at night-fall
in the public-house of one of their tenants, where they regaled themselves
for hours with the strong and heady "twopenny" ale which he brewed. In such
and similar festivities, the Incorporation, it is recorded, "guzzled away
their funds."

Finally, in regard to Ball-play, we may add that Colonel
Forbes Leslie, in his Early Races of Scotland (Vol. I., p. 125), is of
opinion that "the playing ball was not originally foot-ball, for no one was
allowed to kick it."

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